


Only A Game

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Morgan (2016)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-31 02:41:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12666606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: The company's interests would always be primary. That was a given, and one that would never, ever change. If their interests were not met, failures would have to be discarded. There could be no hint at scandal, or everything would come crashing down.And if that happened, Lee Weathers came crashing down with it.





	Only A Game

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonster/gifts).



The company's interests would always be primary. That was a given, and one that would never, ever change. If their interests were not met, failures would have to be discarded. There could be no hint at scandal, or everything would come crashing down.

And if that happened, Lee Weathers came crashing down with it.

Amy wouldn't have been able to process the ruthlessness of the company's tactics. It was clear that she didn't really understand what Morgan would have been used for, that she loved Morgan and treated her as if she was simply a gifted child. The company didn't see Morgan as a child, only an asset that could possibly be marketed. Her speed, strength and agility were the important skills, and understanding nature, art, or music had no commercial use.

Hiding Amy wasn't even a good option. It had crossed Lee's mind for a moment, though. How could it not? Amy was a kind soul, one with genuine caring. Lee supposed that most people familiar with child development would be. Amy's entire career was studying children and ability to learn, and would have wanted to optimize that. Especially with the way the facility was so sterile, Morgan's room so empty. Morgan would have seized on Amy's kindness and the thrill of nature and sunlight immediately. That wasn't even a question that needed to be asked.

More than that, though, Amy had carried a gentleness in her air that Lee had recognized. Once upon a time, Lee had tried to save it.

It had been her first and only failure.

***

Marie had a Southern accent and a winsome smile, teeth bright white against the dark of her skin and curly hair. She wore bright jewel tones that popped and highlighted the smooth curves of her body. She exercised regularly, hiking and running and occasional weights for arm strength, and her real joy was _movement._ "It's a closed facility, Lee," she used to say, "but even in a closed loop you can be free."

It had bothered her when Lee had gone for hand to hand training in various styles and had the weapons training. "It's overkill," she had protested to the program director. "Why do you need to have her learn a dozen different ways to kill someone?"

"She's learning self defense," the director had deflected. Lee remembered the smug stance as he stood on the catwalk, looking down over the rest area. There hadn't even been a skylight or music for relaxation. Marie's protests on simple amenities had been ignored, too.

"That's not self defense," Marie had hissed, jaw tense. "We both know it. They're training that child to be a killer!"

"As if painting will get the bills paid," the director sneered. "Remember why you're here, Marie. I don't think you do."

Lips pressed tightly together, Marie had stood stock still as the director left. Lee had seen the determination in Marie's eyes that night, and had gone with her when she skirted the cameras and usual tracked areas. "The tracking chip," Lee reminded Marie before they left the housing part of the facility. "I have to take it out."

"It's in your neck," Marie had said, swallowing uneasily. "I can't—"

"I will."

Marie hadn't been prepared, so there were only her nail clippers. It would hurt more, bleed more, but it would have to do. Lee knew how to shut off that part of herself so it wouldn't interfere with her ability to do the task at hand. Marie didn't know how to do that, and had to turn away as Lee cut into her neck to eliminate the tracker chip. The chip itself was unwieldy, easily broken and extracted, so they likely wouldn't use something like it in further iterations.

Lee had no illusions that there were going to be further iterations. She was a prototype, after all. The very word implied that further development was ongoing, and scientists were actually very terrible at leaving well enough alone. Everything had to be pushed further, farther, faster. New developments had to be made, discoveries broadcast and patented, uses created to justify the expense of every product created and tested.

She was a _thing,_ even if Marie called her she and named her Lee after her deceased daughter. Marie saw her as a child to protect and nurture, but the company only saw her as a future commodity. She knew that, understood it, and didn't see the point in railing against it.

There were ways to use their perceptions and expectations for her own benefit.

Chip extracted, Lee pulled up the collar of her shirt to hide the blood from Marie's sight. She was squeamish, too gentle to think of the necessary tactics. While the desire to leave and the initial plan was Marie's, Lee knew she would have to take point and cover. Almost as if she understood what Lee was doing, Marie deferred to her already growing skill set. It troubled her, but those skills were the very ones that allowed them to breach the perimeter and escape into the forest surrounding the facility.

"There's food in a hollowed out log," Marie had said. "Clothes, jackets, boots, money... I've planned for all that."

"How will you explain us? I don't look like you."

"You're my daughter, Lee," Marie had said with a smile and tossed her hair over her shoulder with a dramatic flair. "Not all family is of blood, you know."

"Adoption."

"Or caring. Emotional ties are just as strong as blood ties, Lee. People will do all kinds of things for the sake of their emotions."

"Like taking me out of the facility."

Marie had grinned. "Exactly right. You're a child, Lee. You should get to be one."

Lee had wanted to deny that, to say that she was never meant to be a human child. But she loved the sight of Marie's grin, which had been absent these past few weeks, and so she nodded.

People will do all kinds of things for the sake of their emotions.

The two went through the forest, off of the usual paths that were present. Marie had truly planned ahead, and at least knew enough not to leave obvious tracks behind. They changed and continued along the route. Lee didn't tire as quickly as Marie did, for all of her running and hiking, and had to drag her the last mile to the cabin. It was idyllic, everything that Marie had hoped that it would be. Lee smiled, as wide as Marie did, and even laughed at her silly jokes and the games they played together. The hand slapping games were actually fun, turning her hands over and under; she even did it on her own when Marie was sleeping, imagining the answering slaps as she moved her hands on the table.

Of course it was too good to last.

Even if they had gotten farther away, it likely wouldn't have changed things. Supplies needed to be restocked, and there were all kinds of ways to track them digitally once the cash ran out. Lee had tried to suggest going elsewhere, creating more false identities, something. Marie didn't realize how desperate the company would be to retrieve Lee, how ruthless they would be. Lee hadn't yet seen for herself how difficult it would be to countermand their will.

The fight was brutal, bloody, and a deadly dance of fists and guns. Lee moved with the eerie grace and efficiency that she had been taught, and the guards of the first wave really had no chance of surviving her. The second wave was a bit better trained and had better guns, with a secondary team rushing through the house to look for Marie. It was a much better tactic, one that Lee would have thought up if she was in charge of the team. Marie wasn't in the house as a result, and instead was in the bolthole that Lee had prepared for just this eventuality.

Ultimately, she was overwhelmed by sheer numbers and weaponry. She was caught and restrained, held in place with a gun at her temple as everyone waited for the program director to arrive. He glared at everyone and sniffed at the bodies scattered around the forest. "What a waste," he sneered. Turning his gaze to Lee, his lips twisted as if he tasted something sour. "What do you have to say for yourself?" he snarled.

"I have identified areas in my training that are lacking," Lee replied dryly.

It actually made him pause. "I suppose you have."

When the inevitable orders came to find Marie, Lee looked him dead in the eye and lied. "She's gone. She won't be back."

"Do you really think she'd leave you behind?" the director scoffed. He pointed at one team of guards. "Burn it down," he said, pointing to the cabin.

He watched Lee's face carefully as it burned down, and she stared at him without flinching or blinking. Marie was safe, so it was easy not to care that the cabin and all of its contents were gone, left as nothing but ashes and smoke.

Marie was safe. Marie was _safe._

Until she wasn't.

Covered in ashes and dirt, her bright clothing torn, Marie had escaped the bolthole and had taken fallen weapons. She shot the backup team, hands shaking and eyes wide with terror. "You let that child go, Cox!" she screeched.

The director looked at Lee, smirking. "You see? You miscalculated with her, didn't you? Of course she would come back for you."

Cox shot Marie in the head himself.

Lee flinched, arm twitching, and she fully expected the gun to swing in her direction next. It was a surprise when Cox's arm fell to his side, and the smirk was still in place. "Let's go discuss those gaps in your education, shall we?"

There was nothing to do but as he said. _It's like playing follow the leader,_ Lee told herself, remembering the games that Marie had talked about. _One, two, skip to my Lou, lost my partner, what'll I do? I'll find another one better than you,_ she sing-songed in her mind, facial expression carefully blank. That wasn't right, even if it was the lyric to the song. There was no one better than Marie in the facility, and there wouldn't be. The company wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

This was a game. It was only a game. It was always a game.

Lee would make sure she won this game, no matter what it took. She would follow the rules of the game, would strive to succeed at all cost. There was no getting around the company, there was no point in trying to be more than the asset they wanted her to be. She would have to be the best at everything she did, would have to make sure that the company never questioned the decision to leave her alive.

Marie's death deserved no less than Lee's survival.

The End


End file.
